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Prime Minister Starmer visited north Wales this past Thursday to reveal the construction of a new nuclear power station. This represents a significant policy event with both local and national implications. However, the prime minister did not devote much time in Wales to advocating answers for the UK's power requirements. Rather, he used the time attempting to draw a line under the briefing controversy within Labour's leadership, telling journalists that No 10 had not briefed against the health secretary’s ambitions earlier this week.

Therefore, Sir Keir’s day served as a microcosm of what his premiership has evolved into overall. Firstly, he wants his government to be doing, and to be perceived as performing, significant actions. Conversely, he is unable to accomplish this because of the manner he – and, partly, the country more generally – now conducts politics and government.

Sir Keir is unable to change the culture of politics on his own, but he can do something about his own role in it. The plain fact is that he could run the centre of government much more effectively than he currently does. If he did this, he could discover that the nation was in less dismay about his administration than it currently is, and that he was communicating his points more successfully.

Personnel Problems in Downing Street

A number of the problems in Downing Street are about personnel. The personal dynamics of every Downing Street operation are hard to know accurately from the exterior. But it seems obvious that Sir Keir does not make sound staffing decisions, or stick with them. Maybe he is overly occupied. Perhaps he is not really interested. But he needs to up his game, avoid slow progress or incompletely.

• He hesitated about giving the key job of cabinet secretary to Chris Wormald.
• He appointed Sue Gray his chief of staff, then replaced her with a political strategist.
• He brought Darren Jones in from the Treasury as his chief secretary.
• His communications chiefs have chopped and changed.
• Advisors on politics and policy have entered and exited.
• It is a mess.

Structural Challenges at the Core of the Administration

All premiers devote excessive time overseas and on foreign affairs, where Sir Keir should delegate more, and insufficient time talking to parliamentarians and listening to the citizens. Prime ministers also allocate too much time doing media, which Sir Keir worsens by performing inadequately. Yet leaders cannot claim to be surprised when their politically appointed staff, who are often party loyalists or politically ambitious, cross lines or become the story, as Mr McSweeney has recently.

The most significant problems, however, are structural. It would be beneficial to believe that Sir Keir read the a think tank's March 2024 report on overhauling the government's central operations. His inability to grip these issues last July or since suggests he did not. The frequently dismal performance of Labour’s time in office indicates IfG proposals like restructuring the functions of the central government office and No 10, and dividing the positions of top official and head of the civil service, are now urgent.

The political pre-eminence of prime ministers far outdistances the support available to them. As a result, all aspects suffer, and many tasks are poorly executed or neglected.

This isn't Sir Keir’s fault alone. He is the casualty of past failures as well as the author of current mistakes. But those who hoped Sir Keir would take control of the centre and take the machinery of government seriously have been disappointed. Sadly, the primary casualty from this failure is Sir Keir personally.